Entertainment and Culture

The Writer's Almanac, hosted by Garrison Keillor, can be heard each day on public radio stations throughout the country. The Writer's Almanac educates, entertains and inspires listeners with brief facts and poetry related to each day's date. It celebrates the birthdays and works of poets, writers, composers, philosophers and historical figures.

Composers Datebook is a daily two-minute program designed to inform, engage, and entertain listeners with timely information about composers of the past and present. Each program notes significant or intriguing musical events involving composers of the past and present—with appropriate and accessible music related to each.

For more than two decades, Tom and Ray Magliozzi (a.k.a. "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers") have been America's funniest auto mechanics. By making millions of listeners laugh, they have become the defining voices of public radio weekends. Their mixture of honesty, authenticity, knowledge, and humor has won them numerous awards (including a Peabody), accolades from every major national publication, and the loyalty of millions of public radio listeners, who continue to reward their stations with good will, listener hours, and fundraising dollars.

A Prairie Home Companion is a two-hour weekly variety show broadcast live from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota and other locations in the U.S. and around the world. The show offers a quirky blend of comedy sketches, topical subjects and music. At the heart of the show is host Garrison Keillor's humor-writing talent and unrivaled ear for great radio.

Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, NPR’s weekly hour-long quiz program, airs on Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to noon. Each week on the radio, listeners can test their knowledge against some of the best and brightest in the news and entertainment world while figuring out what’s real news and what’s made up. Peter Sagal hosts.

Described as a cultural "phenomenon" by the New York Times, "On Being" with Krista Tippett (formerly "Speaking of Faith") is a Peabody and Webby Award-winning weekly program that airs on more than 240 stations. The program engages listeners across the spectrum of belief and non-belief in conversation about life’s deepest questions. From autism to the ethics of torture, Krista and her guests reach beyond the headlines to probe faith and meaning, ethics and new ways of being, amidst the political, ecological, economic, cultural and technological shifts that define 21st century life.

The Splendid Table is public radio's culinary, culture, and lifestyle program that celebrates food and its ability to touch the lives and feed the souls of everyone. Each week, award-winning host Lynne Rossetto Kasper leads listeners on a journey of the senses and hosts discussions with a variety of writers and personalities who share their passion for the culinary delights.

Built around the innovative personal vision of host Ira Glass, "This American Life," quite literally, pioneered a new kind of radio storytelling. The weekly program explores a theme — fiascos, conventions, the job that takes over your life — through a playful mix of radio monologues, mini-documentaries, "found tape," short fiction and unusual music.